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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25589194">my, my, just how much i missed you</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/daisylincs/pseuds/daisylincs'>daisylincs</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Spideychelle Week 2020 [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Canon Compliant, Consequences of Beck's Video, F/M, Flashbacks, Lawyer Michelle Jones, Lily's Spideychelle Week 2020, Meeting Again After High School, Meeting in an Airport, Michelle Jones Is Amazing, Post-Spider-Man: Far From Home, Precious Peter Parker, Spideychelle Week 2020, Ten Years Later</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 04:49:10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,534</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25589194</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/daisylincs/pseuds/daisylincs</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Oh, this was just <i>perfect.</i></p><p>The <i>one</i> time she got upgraded to business class, her flight was delayed. Of <i>course.</i> </p><p>What made it even worse was that she didn’t even have a good book with her - expecting no wait at all, she’d happily packed it into her main suitcase.</p><p>The only thing she could do to keep from tearing her hair out in frustration was to study her fellow business class passengers - and boy, did it make her feel like a high-schooler again, going to detention just to sketch people in crisis.</p><p>The problem was, nobody in the business-class lounge was even <i>remotely</i> interesting. They were all just stupidly-rich, suit-clad attorneys and dry, stuffy accountant types. </p><p>Except… hang on, that one guy in the corner looked oddly familiar.</p><p>Michelle looked closer, and her jaw dropped. <i>“Peter?”</i></p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Michelle Jones &amp; Peter Parker, Michelle Jones/Peter Parker</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Spideychelle Week 2020 [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1796671</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>139</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Spideychelle Week 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>my, my, just how much i missed you</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I had such high hopes of actually completing a fandom event <i>on time</i> when I started this fanweek. But then… well, <i>then.</i> Here we are, practically at the end of July already, and I’m only half-way through a June event. *sighs* One day I’ll finish something on time. One day.</p><p>Anyway, moving on to the actual fic here: this is, remarkably enough, a canon compliant fic - well, technically, post-canon. I know, I was surprised, too - I rarely write canon compliant things. But here we are! This is set about ten years after the ending of Far From Home, and everything that happened in that movie - and in the greater MCU before that - is considered Fact here.</p><p>The title of this fic comes from, <i>of course,</i> Mamma Mia by ABBA. I can’t <i>possibly</i> do an entire fanweek without a single ABBA title in it, I mean, <i>come on,</i> it’s <i>ABBA.</i> It’s practically <i>law </i>that you have to use at least one ABBA lyric if you’re doing song lyric titles!</p><p>Anyhow, now that my ABBA-loving self has been appeased, let’s jump right into Day 4 of Spideychelle Week!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“You have <i>got</i> to be kidding me,” Michelle said, gaping at the clerk in dismayed astonishment. </p><p>The poor man looked like he might have a conniption or something from all the stress. “I’m afraid I’m not, ma’am,” he stuttered apologetically, and Michelle hadn't even known it was <i>possible</i> to stutter apologetically until just then.</p><p>She snorted. “Well, then. What do you suggest I do?”</p><p>The clerk cringed. “U-uh, well, ma’am, since you <i>are</i>in business class, might I suggest the premier lounge -” </p><p>“Yes, thank you,” Michelle said tartly, the last of her patience flying straight out of the window in the way her plane <i>wasn’t.</i></p><p>Oh, this was just <i>perfect.</i></p><p>The <i>one</i> time she got upgraded to business class, her flight was delayed. Of <i>course.</i> </p><p>What made it even worse was that she didn’t even have a good book with her - expecting no wait at all, she’d happily packed it into her main suitcase.</p><p>The only thing she could do to keep from tearing her hair out in frustration was to study her fellow business class passengers - and boy, did it make her feel like a high-schooler again, going to detention just to sketch people in crisis.</p><p>The problem was, nobody in the business-class lounge was even <i>remotely</i> interesting. They were all just stupidly-rich, suit-clad attorneys and dry, stuffy accountant types. </p><p>Except… hang on, that one guy in the corner looked oddly familiar.</p><p>Michelle looked closer, and her jaw dropped. <i>“Peter?”</i></p><p>No <i>way.</i> She <i>had</i> to be imagining it. It was just someone who looked weirdly like him… right?</p><p>Trying not to appear too obvious, Michelle walked over to the bar, leaning against a pillar and discreetly trying to get another look at the guy’s face.</p><p>He was busy with something on his phone, and much to her annoyance, he wouldn’t look up.</p><p>Then he <i>did,</i> and Michelle felt her jaw drop for the second time in as many minutes. It was <i>him.</i> A little older, with a new scar under his eye, but unmistakably <i>him.</i> </p><p>Michelle didn’t even realise she was staring until he looked up, brow furrowing, and glanced around the room.</p><p>Cheeks flaming, she slammed her mouth shut and yanked her gaze away.</p><p>Now she <i>really</i> felt like she was back in high school. How many times had this exact thing happened before…</p><p><i>Before.</i> </p><p>Completely unbidden, her mind flashed back to that day in New York - the crowd pressing in on her, Beck’s video blaring from every billboard, Peter perched on the lamppost, his total shock clear even through his mask - </p><p>“MJ?” Peter’s voice cut into her thoughts, a little deeper than she remembered, but coloured with that same boyish surprise. “It’s you!” </p><p>She felt like she had been jerked sharply back into reality, but did her best to hide it. “Peter!” she said, tucking her hair behind her ears and giving him her best shot at a composed smile. “Hi.”</p><p>He smiled, that indefinably <i>Peter</i> combination of sweet and awkward, and it was like the last ten years melted away completely. She was sixteen again, stealing glances at him from a gondola. Walking through Prague at night, her hand just-just brushing his. Throwing her arms around him on Tower Bridge. Swinging through New York City in his arms. </p><p>Meeting Pepper Potts for the first time.</p><p>
  <i>“Miss Jones.” Pepper’s smile hadn’t reached her eyes, and her gaze had kept flitting to Peter, filled with worry. “I’m so sorry we couldn’t meet under better circumstances.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“I get it,” MJ had said, her own gaze flitting to Peter, too. He was standing just a little way off, deep in conversation with the sweaty guy from the Tower, both of them wearing frowns very similar to Pepper’s.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>She had never felt more helpless than she did at that moment. She knew Peter hadn’t killed Beck. She knew, just like everybody else in this room knew. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>But she had no way to prove it, and Beck… well, Beck had a video that utterly condemned Peter. In the eyes of the public, Spider-Man had turned out to be a dangerous rogue, and the murderer of the true hero, Mysterio.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>MJ knew it wasn’t true. But what use was that? She was just one girl, and her voice would be drowned out completely beneath what seemed to be irrefutable evidence.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Peter and Happy - his name was Happy, right? - seemed to have come to some kind of conclusion. Michelle found herself taking half a step forward, desperate for any kind of news.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“MJ…” Peter had said, the familiar nickname making her want to smile despite the direness of the situation. His gaze was heavy, his voice even more so. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>“What?” she asked, the smile fading slowly from her face. Part of her already knew the answer, but she pushed it down and turned all her attention to Peter.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“MJ, you…” He took a deep breath, dropping his gaze to his feet and looking quickly up again in that endearing way he had. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>His eyes were far more serious than any sixteen-year-old’s should ever have to be. “The public doesn’t know who you are,” he said. “You don’t need to get mixed up in this. You can step away from all of this now, and you can still have a good life.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>MJ had wanted to fight with everything she had. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “No, no, I’m not doing that. I - we -”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“I’m really sorry, MJ,” Peter said quietly, and she saw in his eyes that this was tearing him apart. “But I can’t let you destroy your life because of me.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“I don’t care!” she half-shouted. “I don’t care about any of that. I’m not just throwing this away -”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>This - they - had only just started, he couldn’t ask her to give it all up, just like that!</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Peter had closed his eyes, a million expressions flickering across his face. “MJ,” he had said, and the helplessness in his gaze froze her tongue. “I don’t want any of this, either. But we’ve been talking, and thinking, and there’s nothing we can do. We can’t refute Beck’s video, not without proper proof. And we don’t have that.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“MJ, they’re going to come for me,” he said. “There’s nothing anyone can do about that. And I - we - don’t want you to get mixed up in that.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>She had closed her eyes, a bitter taste filling her mouth. Part of her screamed that she couldn’t just give up, that she could go on the run with him.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>But MJ had always been ruthlessly truthful, above everything else. She knew she couldn’t upend her life like that. She couldn’t run away with him, she couldn’t abandon everything she had - her life, her family, her school, her dreams.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Going on the run with him would mean giving up all of that, and furthermore - what could she do, once they were on the run? She was a sixteen-year-old girl with no superpowers and nothing behind her name except a reputation for a sharp tongue.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>If she had thought she could help herself in any way by agreeing to go with him, she would have said it. She would have persuaded him.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>But she had always advocated for the truth.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Okay,” she had said, even though the words brought back that feeling of ash in her mouth from Tower Bridge all over again.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Peter had reached for her hand, but stopped half-way, forcing himself to take a step back. “I’m so sorry, Michelle,” he said.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Michelle. Not MJ - Michelle.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>It was the first time she had liked the sound of her proper name.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“I’m so sorry,” he repeated, holding her gaze for a second that seemed to stretch years longer.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“I get it,” she had said softly, and he had given her a sad smile and turned away.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Then Pepper had come forward again, taking her by the arm and explaining in quick, businesslike tones how this was going to work, how they were going to protect her from any public fallout, how they could get her life back on track again.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>How she could never see Peter again.</i>
</p><p>Michelle felt as though hours had passed as she jolted out of the memory, but it couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, because Peter hadn’t tried to break the silence yet.</p><p>“It’s good to see you,” he said, offering her a tentative smile.</p><p>Michelle’s head was still reeling from the memories, so she only gave him the barest nod in reply. </p><p><i>You’re not sixteen anymore,</i> she told herself sternly. <i>Get your act together.</i></p><p>Speaking of getting acts together… how on <i>earth</i> was Peter out in the public eye again? </p><p>“How are you here?” she blurted, then winced. Wow. Seeing him again was really messing with her head - and, apparently, with the eloquence she was infamous for in the world of lawyers.</p><p>Peter cleared his throat, dropping his gaze awkwardly to the floor. “I came out of hiding about five years ago,” he said. “By then, the public had pretty much forgotten about me, so it was easy enough to persuade them Mysterio lied, once I got Sam to make a statement explaining everything.”</p><p>She nodded slowly, but her head was reeling. Five <i>years?</i> He had been out of hiding for <i>five years,</i> and she had never known?</p><p>He had never even thought to contact her?</p><p>She immediately kicked herself for even thinking that. Of <i>course</i> he hadn’t thought to contact her, she was just a girl he had dated for a week or two when he was sixteen. </p><p>A week or two. Ha. It hurt even just to think about it. But that really was all they had had. </p><p>So it only stood to reason that he wouldn’t contact her - he had to have built himself into a whole new person in these last few years.</p><p>She knew she had. Built herself into a whole new person, that is. </p><p>She had gone to law school, graduated in half the time it usually took - and had made a name for herself as someone who was willing to take the most impossible cases if it meant people didn’t have to be separated from their loved ones. </p><p>She wasn’t MJ, the sharp-tongued loner and Midtown High decathlon team captain anymore. She was Michelle, internationally renowned for being one of the best lawyers in the business, and internationally infamous for refusing to take high-profile cases.</p><p>And if she had changed herself so much, well… Peter had to be a whole new person by now. </p><p>Heaven knew he had gone through enough trauma to change him completely. </p><p>Speaking of - Peter was watching her carefully, but with a hint of awkwardness in his eyes, like he didn’t know what to say to her.</p><p>She got the feeling.</p><p>She was twenty-six, but part of her felt sixteen again - like all the feelings she hadn’t really had the time to express and let out had stayed tucked away somewhere deep inside her instead of fading away with time.</p><p>And now that Peter was here, those feelings were clamouring to be let out again.</p><p>The problem was, she didn’t really know how to let them out any more than she had as she was sixteen. </p><p>Because if there was another thing Michelle Jones was infamous for? <i>Not dating. </i></p><p>She always told her mother the same thing when she called hoping to hear if she had found that “someone special” yet: <i>no, mom, dating’s not the priority right now - I’ve got so many people to help.</i></p><p>And it was true. She really did.</p><p>But looking at Peter now, and feeling all the decades-old emotions bubble up in her again… she had to wonder, how much of it was because of him? </p><p>Her career in helping loved ones stay together? Well, <i>she</i> had been separated from someone she cared a lot about, right as she found out he cared about her, too. </p><p>And her unwillingness to date? It wasn’t that she hadn’t been attracted to anyone after Peter. She <i>had,</i> and there had been plenty of one-night stands through the years, both with men and with women.</p><p>But none of them had <i>stuck.</i> </p><p>And she could say it was because of her work all she wanted, but now that she was face-to-face with Peter Parker again… </p><p>Well, she was kind of forced to admit that he was the only person she had ever really been able to see herself in a relationship with.</p><p>All of which was, of course, <i>just</i> the kind of thing that you should be thinking about when you wanted to have a relaxed, casual conversation like the adults you were. And, okay, she had more finesse than just blurting out “hey, Parker, so the truth is I never really got over you, wanna get back together?”</p><p>But still. <i>God.</i> This whole thing was so awkward. </p><p>And you know what was not helping? </p><p>
  <i>Peter.</i>
</p><p>Specifically, his suit.</p><p>Specifically, his bespoke, tailored-just-to-fit-him, really-quite-unfairly-attractive suit. </p><p>Michelle was having a hard time keeping her eyes on his face, because whatever he had been doing in his years on the run, it had been keeping him <i>fit.</i></p><p>She was just about to clear her throat and ask… something (because good <i>God,</i> had she really gotten stuck in her thoughts for that long? She was a professional lawyer, for crying out loud, she was better than that) when Peter blurted, his face a study in guilt, “MJ, I’m so sorry I didn’t try to find you and let you know sooner -” </p><p>“No, come on, I totally get it,” she said, cutting him off before he could go into one of his patented Peter rambles (<i>that</i> much, at least, hadn’t changed.) “It’s ten years later, we don’t even know each other anymore -” </p><p>“Maybe I’d like to,” Peter blurted. </p><p>Michelle blinked. “Excuse me?” </p><p>Peter winced, and his expression was entirely <i>oh my God, what did I just say?</i> “Uh…” he said, awkwardly raising a hand to run through his hair.  </p><p>Michelle resisted the urge to grin at how familiar the gesture was. </p><p>Obviously noticing her almost-smile, Peter dropped his hands into his lap, his gaze softening and filling with that sincerity that used to melt her heart so much. “I mean,” he said, and the way he held her gaze had butterflies rising up through her chest. Okay, so maybe that warm sincerity didn’t just <i>used</i> to melt her heart.  </p><p>“I’d like to,” Peter said, his gaze still full of that soft warmth. “If you think it might be nice, too, then I’d really like to get to know you again.” </p><p>Michelle swallowed, her cheeks suddenly feeling very warm. This idiot. This handsome, sweet, sincere, <i>wonderful</i> idiot. How much of her life had changed because Peter Parker <i>wasn’t</i> in it? </p><p>She couldn’t help but wonder how much it would change if he <i>was</i> in it, properly.</p><p>If the warmth in his gaze was any indication, the only changes would be really, really good ones.</p><p>She let the smile that was tugging at her lips stretch into a proper, happy one. “Okay,” she said, and maybe her grin was a little idiotic in its sappiness, but that was nobody’s business but her own. “I’d like that.” </p><p>
  <i>
    <b>The End.</b>
  </i>
</p>
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